Author(s): Rebecca Donner

History | Germany | Women's Histories

The thrilling and previously unknown story of the woman who led one of the largest anti-Nazi resistance groups in Germany, now a New York Times bestseller.

 Born and raised in America, Mildred Harnack was twenty-six and living in Germany where she witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party. She began holding secret meetings in her apartment, forming a small band of political activists set on helping Jews escape, denouncing Hitler and calling for revolution. When the Second World War began, she became a spy, couriering top-secret intelligence to the Allies.

In this astonishing work of non-fiction, Harnack's great-great-niece Rebecca Donner draws on extensive archival research, fusing elements of biography, political thriller and scholarly detective story to tell a powerful, epic tale of an enigmatic woman nearly erased by history.

'A beautifully rich portrait of a very brave woman ... Donner's story reads with the speed of a thriller, the depth of a novel and the urgency of an essay, like some deeply compelling blend of Alan Furst and W.G. Sebald' - JAMES WOOD

Review: 'Reads like a thriller . . . Written in a pacey, suspenseful present tense, it's biography with a pulse . . . a superb, sure-footed work of historical detection conceived with a powerful intelligence' - Sunday Times

'A beautifully rich portrait of a very brave woman. While never less than scrupulously researched, this biography explodes the genre of "biography": experimental but achieved, Donner's story reads with the speed of a thriller, the depth of a novel and the urgency of an essay, like some deeply compelling blend of Alan Furst and W.G. Sebald' - JAMES WOOD

'Astonishing . . . wilder and more expansive than a standard-issue biography . . . a real-life thriller with a cruel ending' - New York Times

'Written in a fizzing present tense, the book in places reads like a spy novel . . . Donner writes in beautiful, crisp prose (like her great-great-aunt, as quotes from Mildred's letters reveal) . . . The result is a work that transports us to a period now slipping from living memory but that contains vital lessons for our own time' - Herald

'A tour de force of investigation . . . gripping' - Economist

'A thrilling and inspiring book. It is a treasure trove for lovers of biography, new writing and the history of the Third Reich' - Scotsman

Prizes: Winner of PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography 2022 (United States) and National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography 2022 (United States) and The Chautauqua Prize 2022 (United States). Short-listed for Plutarch Award 2022 (United States) and LA Times Book Prize 2021 (United States).

Author Biography: Rebecca Donner is the New York Times bestselling author of two critically acclaimed books, and her essays, reportage and reviews have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, Bookforum and Guernica. Donner was inspired to write All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days after her grandmother gave her a bundle of Mildred's letters. rebeccadonner.com